Audit of USAID/Mali’s Education Program.

The greatest development challenge in Mali is the poor quality of education, including inadequate infrastructure, poor educational materials, lack of trained teachers, and an attitude that formal education is not important. USAID uses resources from the White House Africa Education Initiative —a $600 million, multiyear effort in favor of several African countries, including Mali—to assist the Government of Mali in improving the quality of basic education. USAID/Mali’s education program received $18 million in FY 2008 and requested $17 million for FY 2009. The program includes technical assistance and training to provide preservice and inservice teacher training for teachers in grades 1–6; develop an improved curriculum; mobilize communities to manage and advocate more effectively for public, community, and Islamic schools; and train decision makers at decentralized levels of the Ministry of Education to link resource and budgetary allocations to desired results.

This audit will determine whether USAID/Mali’s education program is helping to improve the quality of basic education.